Seems like I'm in too. 

I've heard very good reports about the strength of the Freeload racks, certainly up to the task.  Besides that, the load becomes a good bottom out damper against the saddle

I really hope 'Colorado Cool Breeze' will honestly report back here with how this worked on trails where you would a long travel bike like that for.
It actually looks dangerous to me. Imagine hanging behind the saddle on a steep downhill and all of the sudden get 'kicked' in the butt by a drybag that's pushed up by the suspension going through it's travel. Not good!

Just don't forget to leave the gun at home if ever you would have interest of exploring another country. 

I think 'the tortoise' has too much time on his/her hands and needs to get the bike out and go for a ride of his/her own.

Nice read.
I personally would never leave on a ride like this without a chaintool though. A broken chain/derailleur is always a possibility and ride ending without a chaintool. You didn't need it BECAUSE you brought it, karma! 

This thread needs more pictures! No one with pictures from the start?

Race kings are very fine, fast rolling tires, perfect for the tdr and the like. I'd personally go for the 2.2 as they measure smaller then they claim, just like Jeff says and he knows as I believe he's sponsored by them.
I run the 29er version on a bike and don't hesitate to take it out on the non-technical trails in the local forest on one day and do a century road ride the next day (or often a century forest ride). I just add/loose some air and pedal away.

Really nice! 

Can you share some of your logistics. How did you get to the start and make it back home? Easy to get food (obviously water was no problem)? I'm all ears.

Tandems are an accepted category in the TD. You can argue about the definition of 'solo' I suppose, but I think one starts picking nits at this point. And as someone said previously, all lawyer-speak should be banned outright. So I think it's safe to say "two people and two bikes" and "two people and one bike" are not the same thing.

I was not seriously trying to start 'a tandem as solo/team' discussion here, sorry if you thought I was.
But wait... that actually proves the point I was trying to make there!
Words (or rules) are up for interpretation by the reader. Lets just keep the negative thoughts off this forum and give the folks who rode (or are still riding) this race the respect they deserve. There is no need to start arguments about wether or not someone should be relegated from this race, we already have the Tour de France for that!

About the first rule "All attempts are intended to be solo" -- that seems like a squishier statement than "no drafting" to me.  It doesn't say "All attempts are required to be solo" or "All riders must start the race intending to ride solo".  I believe others have suggested in the past that if you start solo and happen to spend much or all of the race in the company of another, that's normal, but if you start intending to ride with another, then that's counter to the intent of the race.

I agree that if two people want to ride the Divide together, they should.  I don't think they should be ranked against racers who are at a relative disadvantage to them because they followed the rules and did the race solo.

For example, somebody could create a new set of rules designed for racing as a pair,

So according to the rules both tandem teams should be (have been) relegated because they preplanned to ride together, shared equipment, information,...?

Also many people seem to think that someone is only 'racing' when they place in the top ten or something. Everybody is different and different people have different abilities. Someone may come in 10th place on his/her fast touring pace and someone can come in last and have 'raced' to the fastest of his/her abilities. Who are 'we' on a public forum to say that the person coming in last (or anyone on the race) should not be taken into the results because 'we' think they were not racing?

The great stories and accomplishments in this race is not just Ollies amazing time, but in Fixie Dave, Tracy Burge Georg Deck and the many other who persevered and raced to their maximum capacity.  These people and many other "mid and back pack" give the TD a face and personality, they are the ones i follow.   I have yet to hear one word form the race leaders how these slower riders hurt them or the great race.  Not showing their time or place would be a disgrace.

+1. Could not agree more! And now, I go ride.  

I like creative thinking. 

It seems to me it would be setting a really bad precedent to allow them to be ranked.  It essentially negates the "no teams" rule, doesn't it?

just my thoughts:
2 people, who care for each other, sharing an adventure like this is absolutely awesome (wether on a tandem or not) and you, as a dot-follower, asking them to be scrapped from the results for that very same reason is very unrespectful and 'not done'.

Does anybody know if it's possible to set the 'trip odo' or 'total odo' to a certain value on a Garmin Vista Hcx? I can reset this but cannot fill in a value (other then 0). It would be nice to be able to set the 'trip odo' to whatever I want. That would make it easier to follow cues with distances. Anybody knows if this is possible?

What? No pictures or videos of the start yet?  

Do I gotta show y'all how to do it? (Grabs snowshoes from the basement, lubes up chain on the bike, packs up a backpack, looks at airline ticket prices for tomorrow...)

Go for it Justin! I'm sure you'll have everbody cheering for you after last year.

the databook shows 1,040 gain but the Guidebook shows 3,515.

That looks like a 1040 metre would be about 3515 feet? a little conversion error there maybe?

Good question. Long story short

Thank you for that response, it sort of confirms what I expected. Maybe mini v-brakes would be a solution then as that has the cable inside a housing all the way up to the brake-arm. I need to look into that some more.

The experiments I've one with eVent dry sacks in slings, on drop bar setups seems to be working well with the sling that Cleveland Mountaineering made for me,

Justin,

How does this all work with the cable for the front canti-brake? Does the cable rub the sling everytime you use the brakes?
I've got a similar bike and thought about putting stuff in the front like that but I can't really see how it would go with the cable. Euh, close up picture maybe?

I see Kurt & Caroline are listed as 1 line. Does that mean we have another tandem team going this year?
Oh, setup picture, please.

never mind...
http://krefs.blogspot.com/

I see Kurt & Caroline are listed as 1 line. Does that mean we have another tandem team going this year?
Oh, setup picture, please.